Should I update my bike or upgrade to a new one?

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I’ve got an old Bottecchia with a classic Team ADR paint scheme that I used to race on. I commute on a Special­ized Tri Cross, and I want to have a second bike in the garage for training. Do you think it’s worth trying to update it, or am I better off just selling it and getting something more mod­ern? It seems like upgrades could be difficult because of the older Campy stuff it’s equipped with, but I’ve got a senti­mental attachment to this heavy cro-mo bike from college.

It sounds like you’ve got things mixed up a bit, with a fancy bike for commuting and a beat-up old one for training. Use the Bottecchia for commuting, maybe setting it up as a fixie.* It’s a cool old bike, and you don’t need a high-performing, smooth-shifting, fancy machine to get around town. Sell the ’cross bike and get a new road bike to train on instead.

If you can afford it, though, the best bet would be to just buy more bikes and keep them all. I don’t see how anyone can get by with less than seven bikes. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from college psychology class? Me neither, but it went something like food, shelter, sex, commuter bike, track bike, ’cross bike, mountain bike, race bike, time trial bike, and backup race bike. You’re not even halfway there yet, and who are you to argue with the founder of modern psychology?

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